Pat Croce, who didn’t make many business or basketball mistakes, was to make one in 1996.

Relatively new to the control of the 76ers, Croce knew a coaching change was required, and he’d convinced himself that Johnny Davis, a short-time assistant for the Portland Trail Blazers, was ready to be a star in the profession. A year later, the Sixers were — ready? — 22-and-60, and even with must-watch rookie Allen Iverson, they were so bloody uninteresting that Croce, who rarely needed an excuse, had a new reason to run around screaming.

So Davis was fired, and Croce swore he would never repeat the error. And while attempting to recruit several of the most accomplished coaches in basketball, he came to appreciate Larry Brown, he of the 18-pound head-coaching portfolio. It was then that Croce hollered the first known Philadelphia-sports reference to the value of precious metals, years before Jeffrey Lurie’s legendary muffed attempt.

“I told you that experience is worth its weight in gold,” Croce would say, while presenting Brown. “And we went after the gold standard of experience.”

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Croce’s second coaching choice would work, with Brown able to maximize the on-court value of the undisciplined Iverson. Within four years, Brown had coached — coached being the accurate verb — the Sixers in the NBA Finals.

They’re still looking for that championship, the Sixers are, and they hint they’ll hire a coach as part of that plan. But Friday will be their 92nd day without a head coach since the resignation of Doug Collins, he of the Brown-like experience. Since then, the Sixers have fired a general manager, hired a general manager, reassigned a CEO, hired a CEO, scouted possible draft choices, conducted a draft and entered a team in a summer league. Sam Hinkie, the new GM, has conducted his search in private, lest too many basketball fans have the urge to join the conversation. And why would the Sixers, ever so popular, need that? Still, the names of some potential candidates have surfaced. And if the list is accurate, it is best described in two words: Davis, Johnny.

Hinkie could yet run the back-door for a dunk. That’s what he did after sneaking into the draft, then winning the thing with a succession of courageous transactions. But there are enough indicators to chart his preferences. And if the message-waiting lights on the smartphones of George Karl and — don’t you know? — Brown are not flashing, it’s not Hinkie texting.

Reports are that Hinkie is interested in, among others, Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, who would have the distinction of being both the second-most qualified Jay and the second-most qualified Larranaga. That’s because his father, Jim Larranaga, and Villanova coach Jay Wright both have coached basketball teams into the NCAA’s Final Four. Not that J-Lar is necessarily the next J-Davis, for he has been a D-League head coach and has useful international-ball head-coaching experience. Nonetheless, when the Celtics had a chance to promote him to replace Doc Rivers, they hired as sought-after candidate as there was in the sport, Brad Stevens of Butler. By contrast, instead of trying to similarly recruit Wright, who would be an inspired selection, the Sixers are considering his former assistant, Eddie Pinckney.

Others are being mentioned, including Atlanta assistants Kenny Atkinson and Quin Snyder, who has been cleansed after being scandalized as the head coach at Missouri. Considering those alternatives, the Sixers’ most appealing option would be to promote Collins’ associate head coach Michael Curry, who has been an NBA player and head coach and has been popular among the remaining Sixers.

There is no instruction manual for hiring a successful NBA head coach. In 1977, the Sixers hired entry-level Billy Cunningham, who by 1983 was inhaling a $100 championship-victory cigar. And Erik Spoelstra had no head coaching experience before being hired by the Heat, yet he has coached the last two NBA champions.

Just a hunch, but when an entry-level coach is surrounded by legendary players, it could help. The next Sixers coach will not have that luxury. And that is why experience would benefit, the way it would have in 1996.